Older Neighborhoods To Test Beautification Law

Searching for a way to make their homes look better and rise in value, residents in some of Broward County's older neighborhoods are looking west.

They see Weston, a carefully planned community of close-cropped lawns and subtly coordinated paint colors.

But Weston didn't get that way by accident. Landscaping, lighting, parking and even paint colors there are regulated by resident boards and backed by restrictions written into deeds on homes.

Some of those same powers are now available to older neighborhoods, thanks to a law that passed the Legislature earlier this year. Two neighborhoods in unincorporated Broward are about to put them to the test.

The Broward County Commission on Tuesday approved the drafting of a law creating neighborhood preservation and enhancement districts. Melrose Park and Broward Estates will be the first to try them - hoping a little bit of Weston rubs off.

"It gives our neighborhood an opportunity to be a model," said Bernie Kemp, a past president of the Melrose Park Homeowners Association.

The county and its cities can now create districts in older, deteriorating neighborhoods thanks to a bill sponsored by Rep. Josephus Eggelletion Jr., D-Lauderdale Lakes, that won approval in Tallahassee this year after a three-year battle.

"I want to empower the people who live there to control their own destiny," Eggelletion said. "People living in a community understand their problems better than government does."

Homes and buildings in unincorporated Broward, as in most cities, are supposed to adhere to standards laid out in municipal codes. But enforcement of those codes doesn't solve problems such as out-of-control weeds or abandoned vehicles quickly enough, Eggelletion said.

His law creates a new mechanism. Here's how it would work:

The community can create a five-member neighborhood council, which makes a list of regulations homeowners must abide by. Once the County Commission approves those rules, the council has power to approach violating neighbors and demand the homes be brought into compliance.

The county envisions one change in the state law. Instead of five-member councils, the civic association board already elected by residents would serve that function.

The civic association of Melrose Park, a racially mixed neighborhood of 7,000 residents south of Broward Boulevard and east of State Road 7, has already written its proposed list. Broward Estates, to the north of Broward Boulevard, soon will follow suit.

It won't be exactly like Weston, however. There, those types of regulations can't be ignored or the association will enforce them itself, using money collected in fees and authority granted by deed restrictions.

In the older neighborhoods, the council or civic association would act more like a nearby code enforcement board. If it can't persuade homeowners to comply, it must pass the complaint onto a government agency.

Broward is causing a stir by not wanting to create the councils.

County officials say they don't want Melrose Park and Broward Estates councils because they would be considered an arm of county government and thus subject to burdensome laws covering public meetings and records.

"The purpose here is to empower these people. And I don't think tying them up in regulations will do that," said Cynthia Chambers, the county's neighborhood planning chief. Therefore, government agencies will negotiate with existing neighborhood associations, she said.

"We're taking the spirit of the legislation, but we're not implementing it to the letter," Chambers said.

Eggelletion wasn't pleased.

The way Broward is setting it up, "the research shows that that is not going to work," he said.